Happy New Year! To celebrate the New Year, we asked the WDA team to share some of their strength-based goals for 2017. These goals are designed to reflect on skills our team members already possess and are working to further develop. We hope you’ll enjoy this insight on what drives us and how we’re committed to improving!

Wendy Osaki, Marketing & Office Manager2017 Goal: to expand my Architecture and Marketing network by 24 people by the end of 2017.
I’m excited about this goal because I enjoy meeting new people, attending networking events, and working together to share information. My strategy for this year is to develop these relationship to a point where I can reach out whenever needed. I plan to achieve this goal by hosting at least two lunches and attending two out-of-office events per month.

Gustavo Bermudez, Designer2017 Goal: to apply my architectural photography talents to help the office with any photography needs.At my previous position, I worked on photography and marketing materials to promote several completed projects. While I was earning my Architecture degree, I worked for the Architecture department’s photography lab documenting student’s work ranging from models used for architectural competitions to furniture designs. I’m excited to use my skills to further showcase the wonderful projects that WDA produces.

Dillon Parker, Architect, Sr. Project Manager2017 Goal: to organize and execute a cycling-focused office team building event by Fall 2017.I love cycling, and already do what I can to integrate it into my work day, every day (commuting, either directly or with an added long loop for exercise). As I recover from an accident last year, though, I do need to redouble my efforts and commitment to taking regular, long rides. By committing to coordinating an office event, I hope to effectively “peer pressure” myself into being more diligent by offering to train up others in the office to challenge themselves to longer rides.

In general, I’m an advocate of cycling to work, and I hope that if / when folks commit to a longer ride, they might be more open to or interested in riding to work. And, from my years of experience participating in long touring rides, I know that they can be fun and highly social team-building events, with lots of photo-ops, socializing in a beautiful context, and good food and drink rewards at end of ride. Also, cycling may not be especially “architectural” per se, but the opportunity to create an office jersey by charrette could be an entertaining design exercise that produces a fun, wear-about-town piece of WDA-branded clothing.

Andrea Wrobel, Office/Marketing Assistant2017 Goal: to plan and execute eight WDA events in 2017 and develop our planning system to make production of events more efficient.More WDA-hosted events will give our firm a chance to connect better with our current, past, and potential clients, consultants, and industry influencers. This goal seems a bit too easy, as I love event planning and it’s hard to dislike office-sponsored events when you have great coworkers and clients!

Jon Houck, Job Captain2017 Goal: to improve WDA’s design presentation booklets.We started this project last year, and we’re hoping to finalize and present in-house sometime in the first half of 2017. Our goal is to better communicate our design ideas to clients during the design process.

Bonus Personal Work Goal: to finish ARE/IDP/CA Supplemental Exam and become a licensed architect by the end of 2017.It’s been a long road, but I only have two more exams plus one CA supplemental exam, and my Architectural Experience Program (AXP) hours should be done in the spring. I’m looking forward to officially being an architect!

Sheldon Eaton, Job Captain2017 Goal: to streamline knowledge sharing in the realm of digital technologies.In our collaborative workplace, it’s sometimes been a challenge to balance billable time spent on our projects with non-billable time geared toward teaching and mentorship. This year, I’m coordinating a way to allow everyone at WDA to share his or her knowledge by aligning WDA’s internal Digital Tech Group agenda with billable work. We plan to demonstrate project tasks during the tech meetings in real time. This will allow our Digital Tech meeting leaders to focus more on billable time by reducing overhead preparation time for each meeting.

John Barker, Job Captain2017 Goal: to lead the development of the Digital Tech parts of the WDA office manual. I plan to apply my extensive knowledge of Revit technology to update WDA office standards in WDA’s Office Reference Guide. The Digital Tech parts of the Guide will involve creating and managing the tutorials and beginner’s guide to the WDA office standards, Revit best practices, and other miscellaneous tips relating to the office’s digital technologies. This portion of the WDA Office Reference Guide will help increase our digital technology proficiency now and in the future.

David K. Plotkin, Associate Principal, Commercial2017 Goal: to lead firm in better incorporating sustainability in our day-to-day practice. As a LEED-Accredited Professional with a longstanding passion for environmentally responsible design, I’ll be working with William Duff to defining WDA’s Sustainability Mandate. Once we’ve clarified and updated WDA’s commitment to sustainability, I’ll work to identify ways to elevate implementation into our practice. Then, I’ll use our Mandate to write and rollout a Sustainability Strategic Plan, kicking off by presenting it to our internal staff, and then identifying ways to communicate it to our clients and industry collaborators.